all images and stories are the property of Catherine Beerda-Basso and are not to be used without given permission...thank you

Thursday, 24 October 2013

We choose how we live...

Last week Friday I was driving over the bridgeheading to my girlfriend, Claire's place,to do her hair.She lives just blocks from my dear sister-friendAngelathe one who is walking with cancer.I had hoped to pop over to her place afterI was done with Claire's hairbut she was off to an appointmentone of many she attends these days...This appointment was special.This appointment would determine if the chemo treatments where doing anythingto shrink the tumour that had taken up residence in her colon...causing her to get a colostomy bag in the spring.

So that morningas I crossed over the bridgeAngela was on my mind andI reminded myself that I wouldsend her a textas soon as I arrived at Claire's.It was then I went to my Spirit for guidance and the words I should write...and as I came over the crest of the bridgehigh about the river in the morning fogI heard these words"Catherine,you do not get to choose how you diebut you get to choose how you live."TearsTears reflecting the knowing of the truththe sacred truth in those wordsTears as I thought of my Angela and her husband getting ready to go to this telling appointmentTears in the AWE of her spirit, her conviction, her willingness to believe that all will be as it is meant to be and no matter what the out come, all will be ok.Tears because of the beauty and the fragility of lifeTears because we are so held, so loved, so cared forwe only need ask and believe.

the following is taken from Angela's blogabout said appointment:

It has been a very long day and an even longer evening. I attended an informative session tonight on
Cancer and Diet (specifically the Gerson Diet) and although a fruitful
one, my head is exploding with new information and the task of doing
more research. I am very tired which always makes me emotional but also
because the implication of what I “could” have heard today and what I
heard instead, is only hitting me now.

I was blessed with good news regarding the CT Scan results. The Cancer has not spread!

There
is no measurable tumour remaining visible in my colon (this was the
rascal that started it all). Unfortunately, even though it may have
shrunk, it left behind a heck of a mess. But even the mess seems to have
some positive results. The multiple masses on the lining of my
abdominal cavity have decreased significantly in size and the metastasis
on my liver and right sacral bone (which is the large triangular bone
at the base of the lower spine) have decreased in size as well. The
accumulation of fluid that was in my abdominal cavity has also resolved
itself.

The
chemo has been exhausting and a struggle, but at least I know now that
it is working. The juicing, the diet change, the exercise are also key
to this success. What I need to do is incorporate additional holistic
herbs and healing to help keep the good cells healthier and keep me
strong. I will be scheduled for another CT Scan in 10 weeks and we will
see again how much progress is made.

Thank
you for your love and prayers and your unending support and positive
motivation... I KNOW that I could not have gotten this far without
them.

A
very special friend told me “We don’t get to choose how we die. But we
do get to choose how we live.” I made my choice, I am doing it now and
I am ever so grateful and thankful. I may not be there yet, but I’m
closer than I was yesterday.

Angela xox

(Sat. Oct. 19)

We don't get to choose how we die...But we get to choose how we live

My dear friend is such a reflection of that reality6 months ago the doctors told herto say goodbye to her kidstodaywho knowsbut the truth isshe is alive and livingand my loveliesthat is the happy ending.*

The other scenario is not so brightmy "mom"is not coping so wellshe has already given upYes, she is going through the motions of lifebut she is not livingWhen I suggest looking into the diet the Angela is onshe shrinks up her noseand does not hear me any more.She has long been residing in the anger stageand there is no sign of her leaving...not without a swift kick in the buttAm I the one to give her that kick?It's hard to sayAll I know is that right nowI am so sadand broken insidebecause she has given upon herselfher lifeand essentiallythose who love her.

This is just me unfolding these pieces of my liferight now beauty and painas we walk hand in hand in...

I'm smiling at the news Angela so needed to hear. I'm convinced, juicing diet is key.And then there's your sweet mum. Who's not seeing the glass half full. You are a good daughter, doing the best you can. Love to you, you big hearted beauty. Have a soulful time with your sisters!

Going Deeper...

A Little about Me...

Mother to The Young Blood and Nuclear Banana* Friend to an exceptional husband*Creator's Child* Medicine Woman*Spiritual Feminist*Holder of Sacred Space*Freedom Warrior*Wild Woman*Dissident Daughter*Soul Fire Messenger*Story-Teller*Keeper of the Staff and Lantern, Knower that what we do here matters...

ReWilding Retreats...the place for rebirth

Soul Quest Workshops and Retreats

The Photo Shop

quotes that resonate...

"The world will know and understand me someday. but if that day does not arrive, it does not greatly matter. I shall have opened the way for other women." ~George Sands

"I have a new command for you. As I have loved you, so you must love others. "~Jesus

"You don't have a soul. You are a Soul...you have a heart." ~C.S. Lewis

"Humankind has not woven the web of Life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. all things are bound together. all things connected." ~Chief Seattle, 1854

If ever there comes a time when the women of the world come together purely and simply for the benefit of mankind, it will be a force such as the world has never known."~ Matthew Arnold

“Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.”~ Buddha

"The world will be saved by the Western woman....Some people will call me a feminist...but we need more effort to promote basic human values-human compassion, human affection. And in that respect, females have more sensitivity for others' pain and suffering." ~Dalai Lama

"All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another." ~Anatole France

Out beyond ideas of wrong-doing and right-doing, there is a feild. I'll meet you there. ~Rumi

"Those who seem to know more truth than you simply reflect the part of you that has forgotten. They are your touchstones to remember." ~Alan Cohen

"We do not grow absolutely, chronologically. We grow sometimes in one dimension, and not in another;unevenly. We grow partially. We are relative. We are mature in one realm, childish in another. The past, resent, and the future mingle and pull us backward, forward, or fix us in the present. We are made up of layers, cells, constellations." ~Anais Nin

"Process is more important than outcome. when the outcome drives the process we will only ever go to where we've already been. If process drives outcome we may not know where we're going, but we will know we want to be there." ~ Bruce Mau

“An anthropologist proposed a game to children in an African tribe. He put a basket full of fruit near a tree and told the children that whoever got there first won the sweet fruits. When he told them to run, they all took each others hands and ran together, then sat together enjoying their treats. When he asked them why they had run like that when one could have had all the fruits for himself, they said, ‘UBUNTU, how can one of us be happy if all the other ones are sad?’ (‘UBUNTU’ in the Xhosa culture means: ‘I am because we are.)” Credit: +Sara Del Valle

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